It seems everybody’s minds have been collectively blown away by the sheer quality of Fortiche’s animation in the Netflix series Arcane, the tale of two sisters caught in a brewing war between the clashing cities Piltover and Zaun as magical technological advancements threaten to decimate both sides. So it comes to nobody’s surprise that the collective cost for both seasons equated to $250 million, solidifying Arcane as the most expensive animated series of all time. But what exactly makes Arcane’s animation so visually breathtaking that it feels my eyeballs don’t even deserve to be witnessing a single episode? And, what methods have Fortiche, a French animation studio, utilized to accomplish them?
Most simply, the aesthetic is attained by seamlessly combining 2D and 3D animation. Autodesk Maya was the software of choice and was where all the 3D assets were created.
All characters are 3D and have a rigged base. Rigging in animation refers to a “skeleton” created for a character, featuring connected bones and joints, that can control the model’s movements. But, by emphasizing the planes of the face and not fully blending shadows and highlights, along with painting certain details over the characters or objects, the 3D models still possess a more graphic look.
Most if not all of the backgrounds are hand drawn in 2D, creating a more painterly feeling in many of the shots. Effects such as dust, steam, sparks, glitches, and blood were also animated in 2D. While the characters were animated at 24 frames per second, these effects were animated at just 12 frames per second. The general combination of 3D and 2D animation helps Fortiche avoid the uncanny effect many fully 3D shows suffer from by balancing the cartoonish and realistic qualities of the style.
Instead of motion capture, animators recorded themselves performing the actions to use as a reference when animating. The characters’ movements are made to feel natural and human, but dramatic fight or fast scenes are abstracted and stylized through smear and impact frames; they are frames where limbs may display unnatural flexibility or a shot only consists of inverted line art.
The 2D painted backgrounds and 3D subjects are then set up together and inhabit a 3D space. Fortiche also animates from a first-person handheld camera perspective, fully engaging the viewer on what is happening on screen. Arcane is so innovative in its animation with its beautiful layering of traditional hand animation on modern 3D assets to stylistically enhance each scene, expressing the story the scriptwriters want to tell.
